Synodal path meetings for diocese to run over Lent

Lent will have an extra dimension for Catholics worldwide this year: for the first time ever, everyone everywhere is invited to take part in a synod – a discussion on where the church is at and where it is going.

In the Meath diocese, the structure put in place is for meetings every Tuesday night during Lent, and these are to be held for groups of parishes (‘deaneries’), explains Fr Declan Hurley, a member of the national steering committee for the event and who is overseeing what is termed the ‘Synodal Pathway’ in the Meath diocese.

"I know a lot of people are calling it a ‘consultation’ process, but it’s something much more than that," says Fr Hurley, administrator of Navan parish, and formerly a member of the Mullingar parish team.

"A consultation process is something that might happen in some other kind of organisation, but in the church, it’s much more than that: the closest thing to it is what we’d call a ‘discernment process’, a spiritual discernment process."

The synodal pathway was launched by Pope Francis in October, and it will culminate in a synod in Rome in 2023.

"For Irish people, it is important to understand that there are two things happening in parallel: there is the universal process that Pope Francis started in October leading to the synod in Rome, but at the same time, the Irish bishops have launched our own synodal process – or ‘pathway’ – leading to a national synod in 2025," says Fr Hurley.

At the moment, Fr Hurley explains, the focus within the Irish church is on the universal synodal process.

"Pope Francis has asked Catholics all around to engage in this process of discernment and he has designated the theme of the synod as being ‘communion, participation and mission’.

"’Communion’ is all about how we be a part of the church; ‘participation’ is how we all engage with the church, and how we all have an input into the church, and ‘mission’ is all about how we grow in faith and how we how we bring others to grow in faith with us.

"So Pope Francis, in designating those three things, is putting his finger if you like, on three aspects of the church that are really central and core."

Fr Hurley is strongly encouraging Catholics to get involved in the process, pointing out that at the same time that Catholics in this country are engaged in the process of discernment, so too are the faithful in countries across the world.

"We are inviting everybody – and we mean everybody – to join us in this discussion, this time of listening to each other about how we feel part of the church, how we contribute to the life of the church, and how we are growing in faith in the church."

The way to get involved is to attend one – or more, or all – of the Tuesday night meetings in your deanery. There are no lower age limits for participation.

"We have already identified facilitators. Every deanery has appointed a kind of a team of facilitators.

“They will manage those meetings as they will help the people manage the discussion, guide the discussion in terms of time and so on.

"Also, everybody taking part in those meetings will complete a ‘questionnaire’, if you like; and all those questionnaires will then be gathered and that’s for the synthesis."

Also part of the team working on the project in the Meath diocese are Jane Brady, principal of Gainstown NS, and Navan man Pat Seery.

"Anybody can go along and take part in those meetings, where we will discern together and speak together and listen to each other on those three topics of communion, participation and mission."

Fr Hurley says online contributions will also be welcome – and the church is hoping to get as many people as possible to take part: "Those who go to these meetings will be invited to go themselves to other people – maybe people in their own families or in their workplaces – and have this conversation with them and feed that back as well."

After Easter, when the process of local discernment has finished, a "synthesis" will be created, which will then be sent to national level and from there, on to Rome.

Read also: https://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/2022/02/26/synodal-pathway-whats-on-when-and-where/